baby names

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Crazy baby names are nothing new. In fact, in recent years they've become endemic in our culture, with entire websites devoted to bad baby names, deliberate misspellings masquerading as parental "creativity," and celebrities who go way past "unusual" and into "Wait. What?" territory (like actor Jason Lee, who named his child Pilot Inspektor in 2003).

But Hashtag? As in, well, #hashtag? Really? Really.

Read on to learn more about this media-worthy name.

Are you on the hunt for an unusual baby boy name? We've looked at the United States Social Security Administration's 2011 and rounded up an A-to-Z of 100 rare boy names right now. Using a ranking system where 1 is the most common name, these unique boy names all have a rank of 900 or greater! But before we reveal the names, here are a few interesting trends we noted among them.

Unusual and Trendy Boy Names

Although they're less commonly used, some of the names on this list still follow recent trends. Agustin and Thaddeus fit into the Roman and Greek trend, while Houston is part of the place-name trend. Bibiclal names are here as well (Jeremiah, Enoch), as are creative spellings in the form of Brice, Donte, Trystan, and Zackery.

Unusual Celebrity Boy Names

Just as famous figures may drive a name up the charts, they may also keep a name relatively uncommon. Looking at some of the names in the list, not many parents are giving their boys the names Clinton, Nixon, Elvis, Hendrix, Franco, Hugh, Quinten, and Coen, all of which are associated with famous figures in the political and entertainment realms. 

Unusal Boy Names Starting With S?

As you look at the A-Z, you'll notice that a few letters are missing. We looked at the names ranked 901-1000 by the Social Security Administration (they don't publish name rankings beyond 1000), and surprisingly, there wasn't an S name to be found! Other letters that escaped the bunch are U, W, and X.

Unusual Boy Names Starting With...

A

Agustin, Alfred, Arlo, Arian, Anders

B

Brysen, Braylin, Blaise, Brice, Benton, Bodhi, Bridger, Brecken, Broderick

C

Coleman, Clinton, Crew, Coen, Cristiano, Corban, Cayson, Camilo, Cortez

D

Demarcus, Darryl, Donte, Devan, Damari, Davon, Deon, Dimitri, Dangelo

E

Elvis, Enoch, Elian, Eliseo, Ethen

F

Freddy, Flynn, Franco

G

Gaige, Gibson, Graysen

H

Houston, Hugh, Howard, Haiden, Hendrix

I

Ignacio

J

Jaylon, Jabari, Jakobe, Johann, Jaycob, Jean, Jaydan, Joziah, Jaron, Jaydin, Jeramiah

K

Keon, Kael, Kyan, Kingsley, Kamren, Kohen, Keyon

L

Leighton, Legend, Lathan

M

Miller, Mustafa, Maxton, Mariano, Maxx, Maksim, Major, Malaki

N

Nixon

O

Otto

P

Princeton, Pierre

Q

Quinten

R

Roderick, Ross, Rey, Reuben, Ralph

T

Tyrell, Thaddeus, Turner, Trystan, Tyree, Tyrese

V

Vaughn, Vihaan, Valentin

Y

Yehuda

Z

Zaire, Zackery, Zeke 

Image Source: Julien Haler via Flickr/Creative Commons

Looking for pretty girl names? We asked moms on our Facebook page to share the prettiest girls' names they've ever heard, and their ideas absolutely poured in. Here we've rounded up some favorites, from pretty middle names for girls to names that start or end with particular letters. Read through to get a ton of baby naming inspiration!

Pretty Girls Names Inspired by Nature

From flowers and herbs to gemstones to seasons, the natural world is a huge source of inspiration for pretty girl names. Beautiful plant-inspired names include Violet, Lily, Willow, Jasmine, Flora, Olivia, Ivy, Holly, Hyacinth, Daisy, Saffron, and Rosemary. Stones and gems have also lent their names to monikers like Amber, Ruby, Pearl, Ivory, and Jade. Other pretty nature-based girls names to consider are Brooke, Rayne, Aurora, Dawn, Savannah, and Luna, or seasonal names like Summer, Autumn, Winter, January, April, Mae, and June.

Pretty Middle Names for Girls

Have your daughter's first name picked out but can't decide on a middle name? Rose, Grace, and Marie are all popular pretty middles names. If those don't strike a chord, other middle names moms recommend include Paige, Elizabeth, Emma, Lynn, and Rae. 

Pretty Girl Names Starting with A 

Sometimes parents are drawn to a specific letter. If you're hunting for the perfect "A" name for your daughter, here are some pretty picks other moms love: Arianna, Abigail, Angelina, Amelia, Avery, Ava, Aubrey, Aria, Ashlynn, and Athena.

Pretty French Girl Names

Francophiles rejoice! We're rounded up the following ten recommendations for pretty girl names that are French in origin: Genevieve, Amelie, Mathilde, Aurelie, Giselle, Sophie, Josephine, Juliette, Odette, and Colette. 

Pretty Irish Girl Names

If you're drawn more toward names of Irish origin, Quinn, Fiona, Teagan, and Kiera are all popular recommendations for pretty girl names.

Glamorous Pretty Girl Names

Trying to find a name that's a little glamorous? Names like Scarlett, Audrey, Bridgette, Penelope, Ava and Marilyn have all belonged to Hollywood screen sirens. "V" names just have a glamorous ring to them – think Victoria, Vivian, or Valentina. 

Ending with -La

There's something so pretty and romantic about girls names that end in a "la" sound. Isabella is particularly popular right now, but we also love Layla, Willa, Isla, Lila, Arabella, Jayla, and Delilah.

Pretty Girl Names Ending with "ee" Sounds

Everyone's ears are different however – if you're not partial to names with the -la ending, a bright "ee" sound is another pretty way to go. Some ofthe 'ee' ending names moms recommended are Hailey, MacKenzie, Leilani, Bree, and Zoe.

Pretty Girl Place Names

Want to name your daughter after a special place? We've seen all these pretty place names used for girls: Dakota, Brooklynn, Sydney, Ireland, Paris, London, Charlotte, Florence, Alexandria, Aspen, Eden, Carmel, Sicily, Vienna, Sahara. 

Looking for more inspiration? Check out the full collection of pretty names for girls on our Facebook page.

Image Source: iStockPhoto

Naming our first son, Bowie, was an absolute breeze. The first time I saw the name, I knew that that if we had a boy, that would be it. It was the perfect blend of cute, quirky, fun, unique and cool. The origin was even connected to our heritage, which is a big deal for us. There just was no other option.

On our car ride home from the 20-week ultrasound, where we found out we were, in fact, having a boy, I told my husband about the name. He, too was instantly sold. From that moment on, our son had a name.

And when he was born and we finally spilled the beans to everyone else about what his name was, they all thought it was great too. People love it, it's a great name, and I'm so glad I found it!

But now, we've got a second son, due in three weeks, to find a name for. And it has been the hugest challenge! How do you follow such a perfect name? How will we ever find something that fits all of our criteria: within our heritage, unique but not too "out there", and just really cool? And if we pick the "wrong" name, will he feel shafted?

And then add to all of this the fact the my first name and my husband's first name begin with B, and we (totally not on purpose) chose a B name for our first son. There's a lot of pressure to choose another B name, and there just is no B name jumping out at me. So, we've already chosen to forgo that option. And now, I'm saddled with guilt that he'll feel left out.

I have had a really hard time finding a name that hits me like a ton of bricks the way Bowie did the first time around. But there is one name we both like a lot, and that we've finally settled on: Ferris. It's relevant to our heritage, short, fun, semi-unique, and it didn't just jump right off the page of that baby name book. I really hope that this name doesn't make our second son feel any less cool than our first!

Naming kids is so hard. You're sending them off into the world, branded forever by the name you choose for them. People will make assumptions about them and form their whole opinion around them based just on that first name. Talk about pressure! But, there are some truly horrendous names out there, and I guess at least we can say we're not using one of those. Right?

Did you feel any pressure when choosing names for your child(ren)?

Image Source: morguefile

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, POPSUGAR.

We didn't set out to give  our chlidren "weird" or "crazy" names, but it always used to drive me crazy in school when there were two Sarahs and three Michaels. Since the whole point in a name is to differentiate one child from another, something a little less common was in order. 

We avoided the really crazy ones...like Rainbow and Moon Beam and Fruit Salad.

Our first born was named Adalia (poor choice in spelling, since we pronounce it Ad-a-lie), Iris (the Greek word for "rainbow") Netanya (a city where we  honeymooned which happens to mean "gift from God). 

Next up, our firstborn son, Judah Shere-Khan. We were looking for something masculine, and I'm a big fan of Bible names. The Shere-Khan means "king of the jungle" and can be found in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.

Tilly Virtue came next. Tilly, a sweet innocent sounding name that happens to mean "ready for battle". Paired with Virtue, something we hope our children are filled with.

Almanzo Enoch, named, of course, after the beloved author Laura Ingalls Wilder's husband. My husband loved the book Farmer Boy growing up and Alamanzo was industirious, clever and always one step ahead of every one else. Enoch is another strong, Bible name, referring to a man that so pleased God, he never died, but was "taken up" to heaven.

Almanzo was, shall we say, a difficult baby. He cried all the time. And then some. When I found out I was pregnant when he was just three months old (in fact, baby #5 shared the same due date- one year later) we decided to pick a name more on the mellow side.

We chose Kalina, a beautiful Hawaiian name that means "pure" and Nalani, another Hawaiian name that means "calm as the heavens". Guess what? It worked! Kalina was the most calm, mellow baby one could hope for. With sea-blue eyes, fitting her name.

Next we adopted a beautiful newborn baby boy with some special needs. We chose the name Mordecai, for the man who helped save God's people in Old Testament. His middle name is Courage, something we knew he would need in his life to overcome his disabilities.

Our seventh baby was born in our seventh year of marriage, at seven o'clock at night and weighed in at seven pounds exactly. We named her Jubilee (in the Old Testament every seven years was a year of rest, after seven cycles of seven years, came the Year of Jubilee). Born in the fall, under a full moon, we gave her the middle name, Harvest.

Next came Hezekiah...another strong Bible name from a king who was said, to "do everything will all his might and pleased the Lord". His middle name, Zendnai, is my mother-in-law's maiden name. It was a fitting choice, since Hezekiah's paternal great-grandmother died just two weeks before his birth. 

Avi Providence was next. A beautiful three day old baby we adopted. Avi means "God is my father" fitting, we felt, for an adopted child. Providence was to remind us, and her, about how God brought her into our lives.

Tucker Beniah was our tenth baby. His name Tucker was one my husband and I loved and one his 9 year old brother, Judah, also loved and begged us repeatedly to name the baby. Benaiah, you guessed it, is from the Bible. He was a godly man of courage who helped protect the mighty King David, and once killed a lion with his bare hands.

After having these ten kids, we adopted three teens from Liberia, West Africa.

When I became pregnant with our 14th child, we joked at the table one night about naming him Apollo 14...and the name grew on us. Low and behold, one day while reading the Bible I came across Apollos, who was one of the early disciples of Christ. And so we ended up naming our last baby, Apollo XIV. A fitting end indeed.

Our kid's names may seem "a little out there" to some. But each one was selected with thought and care.

And so far, they've never had to share a class with someone who shares their name.

Image Source: Little Earthling Photography (Renee Bergeron)

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, POPSUGAR.